We tore the original Iron Man video game a new one when it came out two years ago, noting its multiple glitches and repetitive gameplay. At that point, we were hoping that Sega learned its lesson, and vowed to make this year’s Iron Man 2 a much better experience. Well, it’s finally here, and while there are a couple of notable improvements, it’s a huge waste of time.
Iron Man 2 doesn’t always follow the film’s storyline. There are small elements here and there (eventually, you run into Whiplash and his electrified tools of destruction), but you work with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to bring down the deadly Crimson Dynamo and other comic book baddies. As you proceed through the game, you’ll unlock a number of Tony Stark’s super powered suits, along with the gun toting War Machine. You can also develop new tech to use on your missions, including higher caliber fire power (missiles, proton lasers, etc.)
It sounds like a cool superhero adventure, but Iron Man 2 never comes together. Part of the problem is that it’s simply not fun to play. Like the first game, there’s a huge struggle switching from flying to ground combat. Even if you master transferring between the two, you’ll run into problems with some of the smaller things. Take braking, for instance. You’ll fly at top speed towards enemies and need to come to a sudden halt. Rather than hitting a button to instantly stop, you need to hold down the analog stick and stop a few seconds later. This leaves you wide open to attack, and in some cases, screws up your positioning.
The same goes for some of the in-game puzzles. You’re required to flip switches and move certain objects to proceed, but you can’t because enemies cheaply hit you from behind. You can clear the room and return to what you were doing, but more enemies show up.
Even the combat blows. Half the time, your lock-on shots don’t work properly. You’ll target an enemy, but if they move just a bit, the missiles sail right past them. The melee combat is equally bad, as half your moves appear to miss, even though the game says they’re on point.
Sega also blew a huge opportunity by making the game a solo affair. The movie emphasizes the power of teamwork between Iron Man and War Machine, but you only play them separately. A two-player co-op campaign, online or off, would’ve made a huge difference.
The minimal replay value doesn’t help. You could go back and beat the missions with different suits, but there are no satisfying rewards for doing so. Furthermore, the tech development lab is useless, mainly because there’s little to no difference in how your weapons perform. They’ll still fire in spurts, and half the time miss their target.
One area where Sega made some progress is in the sound department. Rather than asking Robert Downey Jr. to lifelessly read through a script, the team called upon a decent sound-alike, along with solid voice work from movie stars Samuel L. Jackson (as Nick Fury) and Don Cheadle (as War Machine). The rest of the audio is average, with a decent film score playing in the background and plenty of bang and boom noises to remind you this is a comic book game.
Unfortunately, the company didn’t learn its lesson with the visuals. Although there aren’t level-warping glitches like in the first game, Iron Man 2 still has a number of problems, beginning with the ugly characters. Even Pepper Potts and Black Widow look undesirable with their muddled faces and stick-like movements. The levels themselves are decent, but you’ll run into slowdown and texture problems, as if this were a PlayStation 2 game. There’s also a surprising amount of pop in, with objects disappearing and reappearing.
Score 0 for 2 for Sega, and with the studio shuttered, you won’t see the publisher go for a third attempt. Iron Man 2 suffers from the same lack of energy as the first game, and despite a few interesting ideas, comes up short. Save your cash and go see the movie instead.
